Over the last month or two we have been visiting the fun, little No Name Canyon for some nice, granite crack climbing. No Name Canyon is a spur canyon at the No Name exit off of the larger Glenwood Canyon. Its accessibility (can bring the dogs and Rainie in her wagon on the nice dirt/gravel road) and quality granite cracks make for a nice place to spend some time.

Kristine climbing Sumac (5.9) on the Poison Ivy Wall

Me & Sawyer gearing up for her climb

Sawyer on Beginner Slab (5.1)

J climbing Poison Ivy (5.9)

J climbing Lone Pine Tree Direct (5.10c). I led this clean and was super happy to do so

Kristine on Railroad Cracks (5.8)

Kristine & I having a date at No Name Canyon one afternoon – just the two of us

J climbing Poison Ivy (5.9)

J leading one of our favorite cracks in the area called The Ironing Board (5.10a), a 110′ route

I had my eye on a bigger route in the Grizzly Creek Canyon (one canyon east of No Name) called Mudflap Girl on the Mudwall. Mudflap Girl was the one route that went to the top of the Mudwall and was 9-10 pitches in all and over 700′ of technical climbing. Our own big wall rock climb right in Glenwood Canyon! Though Mudflap Girl is the easiest route on the Mudwall, it is no walk in the park climb. It goes at 5.10+ and 4 pitches of 5.10 climbing. We left Edwards at 4am and were hiking by 5am up the Grizzle Creek trail. It was warm out – supposed to get into the 80s in Glenwood Springs. There was an interesting Tyrolean traverse across the absolutely raging Grizzle Creek that made for a fun and exciting start to the day.

J on the traverse

Me making my way across trying to not let my heavy pack turn me upside down

It was then roughly a 1,000′ boulder hop up to the base of the Mudwall following cairns. We found the base of the route by its namesake sign and racked up. We were climbing by 6:15 – 6:30am or so. J led off up the awesome 110′ 5.8 1st pitch placing 4 cams.

J leading the 1st pitch of Mudflap Girl with the namesake sign to denote the start of the route

Looking down the 1st pitch from the belay

J then led the next pitch combining pitches 2 & 3. J did awesome pulling the 5.10 roof of the 2nd pitch.

J getting positioned for the 5.10 roof of the 2nd pitch

Me coming up the easier 5.8 pitch 3

The top of pitch 3 was a nice ledge and we swapped gear so that I could lead the next few pitches. Pitch 4 was a really fun and long 5.9+.

Me beginning up pitch 4

Me leading the awesome pitch 4

J topping out pitch 4

Pitch 5 (5.9) was our least favorite as it was over looser rock and broken terrain and a bit wandering.

Me leading pitch 5 with most all of the upper pitches visible

We came to a big ledge at the top of pitch 5 and now the sun was out in full force and heating us up.

Big ledge at the top of pitch 5 looking down Grizzly Creek Canyon

I took the lead up pitch 6 (5.10) on what was my favorite pitch. It was long and continually interesting with solid 5.10 crack moves. I eventually came to a single bolt belay below the roof and backed the bolt up with a solid #0.5 cam.

Me leading up pitch 6 (5.10)

Top of pitch 6

Pitch 7 (5.10+) was the crux pitch of the entire route consisting of a tough sequence of moves over a roof with no feet. I think the last few pitches of climbing caught up with me in making the few tough moves over the roof. I had to rest and hang – between the heat of the sun and being tired from leading the previous 3 pitches, I just didn’t have the strength in my fingers 🙂 Oh well. I eventually made the necessary moves and topped out on pitch 7’s large ledge.

Me under the pitch 7 roof

J made the roof moves no problem and joined me on the ledge. The heat was really getting to me now by this point.

Top of pitch 7

J then took the lead up the last 5.10 pitch 8. This was a long pitch as well – maybe 100′. He led it beautifully and belayed me up.

J leading pitch 8 (5.10) on the upper headwall of Mudflap Gorl

My strength was failing me and I grunted up this pitch even on top rope. I made it to J and then wanted to get back on the horse and decided to lead pitch 9. I led the tricky 5.9 pitch 9 clean and soon belayed J to me. I felt better in the shade a bit climbing pitch 9. J then led the final easy 5.7 pitch 10 to the top and belayed from a tree.

J setting off on the final pitch

J leading pitch 10 (5.7)

When I finally reached the top with J, we were in the shade. I felt much better in the shade and started to get my energy back.

Happy to be on top of Mudflap Girl

Now, we didn’t bring a second rope to double rope rappel the route in hopes of finding the north gully descent. Through a few published descriptions online and from my Western Sloper guidebook, we found the inconspicuous black webbing around a tree about 100 yards east of the head of the steep north gully. From then on, it was 4-5 fun single rope rappels over cliff bands and steep talus downclimbing between.

First rappel

Second rappel

J looking up at me standing at the bottom of the first rappel

Me on the second rappel

The steep and loose north gully

J on the final rappel. Almost looks like a lush jungle

Then, we hung a right at the base of the gully and within 5 minutes we were back at our packs at the bottom of Mudflap Girl. We saw a climber on a harder single to two pitch route on the Mudwall on the hot descent out.

I think this gal is climbing the two pitch route called White Dads on Rope (5.11b)

Looking back at me and the Mudflap Girl route up the Mudwall

We scrambled back to the river and dunked our faces, which felt oh so good and refreshing. We then reversed he Tyrolean traverse and surprised a few hikers on the Grizzly Creek trail. Back at the car shortly after 2pm, it was about a 9 hour day car-to-car. J had two beers in the car and we toasted each other to a good adventure climbing day on the Mudwall. Maybe not soon, but I would like to go back and climb this route again now that we know it as well as the descent down the North Gully.

A little behind in our blog entries, but the whole Chalk family made our annual trip down to Escalante Canyon, CO on Friday, May 19 for some camping and crack climbing with friends. Always fun to get down there in the Spring and Fall as the Summer is just too darn hot. Sawyer slept most of the 3 hr drive, which was great, and we arrived finding a nice campsite around 5pm. All of our friends trickled in over the evening and next morning hours.

Sawyer & Kristine in our big tent

The next morning in the tent vestibule

I think this little gal likes camping in the high desert

It was chilly at night, but once that sun hit Saturday morning, things really warmed up nicely.

Rainie on point

Sawyer displayed her desert energy by jumping off rocks

Most of us then went off to the Cabin Wall and likely our favorite route, Willy’s Hand Jive (5.10+). I led up Willy’s and set up the top rope for folks.

Grayson climbing Willy’s with the gals in the foreground

Grayson again on the amazing Willy’s

Kristine on Willy’s

Me and the Sawyer

Happy Sawyer at the wall

Sawyer getting harnessed up for some 5.10s 🙂

Jesse & Natalie each took a turn to lead up the imposing Rusty’s Cave route (5.10-) next door to Willy’s. They did awesome, but the crux is the cave at the top where it got wide. Its a bit weird for sure. I finished it off for them and set up the top rope for everyone.

Me leading the last part of Rusty’s Cave

Jesse on the Cave route

Me taking a lap on Willy’s

Me higher up on Willy’s

At the funky offwidth pod crux on Willy’s

Dylan on Willy’s

I then took my camera and climbed up Willy’s again and anchored myself to take pictures of Jesse and Natalie climbing.

Jesse digging hard

Natalie hand jamming

Natalie at the crux pod

Cranking hard

We wrapped it up and headed back to camp around 4pm. Sawyer was able to nap for an hour on Kristine’s back as she walked up and down the road. I then took Rainie and Kona down to the creek to let them swim since it was pretty hot outside. I drove them down to the Cabin Wall and parked on an incline. The automatic rear door lifted up so slowly that before I could grab Rainie to lift her down she had jumped out and went down hard on her right front leg and laid sprawled out in the dirt. I was terrified and grabbed her and felt around…It seemed that nothing was broken, but she was in pain and could put zero weight on it. I carried her to Escalante Creek and soaked her legs hoping it may help. I then carried her back to the Tahoe and we drove back to camp. Everyone was worried and gave their medical opinions on what to do and if it were broken or not. Eventually, I just made the decision I wanted to drive back to Edwards and see our vet later that night. So, we packed up everything and loaded it all into the Tahoe. However, before we left, good buddy Steve Cizik had set up this awesome zip line for his kids and Sawyer gave it a good crack. I think the video speaks for itself:

We hated to leave Escalante and the whole gang, but I had to get Rainie looked at. Its all I would think about until I could do so. We arrived back in Edwards around 9:30pm and saw our vet at 10pm. After some x-rays and an examination, nothing was broken. She had likely sprained her ankle. They gave her some morphine for the night and sent us home. It took a few weeks to really heal (or close to heal), but she is doing much better now. Always scary when a really old loved one hurts him or herself. Fortunately, she was able to bounce back for the most part.

The Chalks ventured to Dune Acres, Indiana on Lake Michigan for a fun-filled weekend at the spectacular home of the Spences. The last time I was here was for Kelly & Paul’s wedding in September 2009, so it was pretty cool to be back. This weekend was organized by the four Batesies Kristine, Kelly, Carrie, & Glynnie. Only this time all of the husbands came along with the kids. I have to be honest, I don’t think of much when I think of Indiana, but Dune Acres is pretty amazing and very scenic. Kristine, Sawyer, & I flew to Chicago and rented a car for the hour and a half drive east to Dune Acres. Between 8 adults and 7 kids under the age of 5 (2 newborns included), it was busy at times though so much fun.

All the kiddos eating dinner

Walking down to the beach on Lake Michigan in front of the Spence home

Sawyer loving the feel of sand on her toes

Beach time!

Liv, Liam, & Sawyer gathering rocks to skip on the lake

The Spence home

I love the spiral staircase

Sawyer out cold 🙂

Sawyer & Olivia at this awesome, old-school playground in Dune Acres

Kristine & I each went on our own respective trail runs around the awesome hilly trails of Dune Acres of which Kelly’s dad hiked and recorded and with Paul’s help created nice little maps of the trail systems complete with approximate mileages. On Saturday, Kelly laid the foundation for an adventure to the local state park to attempt the 3 Dune Challenge! While the course summits the 3 highest dunes above Lake Michigan in only 1.5 miles, it would be a challenge for all the kids. We had a lot of fun and after summitting the last dune, we had a nice lunch and then descended.

And go! Sawyer is off to the races

Me, Liam, & Sawyer

Up the first dune

Sawyer finding a walking stick

Sawyer wanted a lift for the final vertical up to the first dune

Mt. Jackson summit! Sawyer is ecstatic!

The kiddos

Sawyer, Kristine, & Paul on the summit of the 2nd dune, Mt. Holden

En route to the 3rd and final dune

Sawyer on a mission

The summit headwall 🙂

And, we’re here! Summit of Mt. Tom

Mt. Tom historical information on its formation

View west

Lunch time

And, a final group shot on Mt. Tom

Saturday evening we all grilled out and enjoyed a spectacular sunset on the front deck overlooking Lake Michigan and Chicago skyline in the distance. What a great weekend with everyone (Paul, Kelly, Glynnie, Rob, Carrie, Brett, & of course Kristine) and all the kids as well. We are so looking forward to the next Bates reunion.

This year’s Thanksgiving was a special one as we headed back east to the mountains of North Carolina to spend 7 days at our mountain cabin, Chalk Hill. Sawyer had never been to Chalk Hill and Kristine and I had yet to see the finished addition of the large great/game room. The new addition is incredible and really adds to the livability of the cabin.

The new addition under construction as seen last December 2016

The driveway side front entry of the new addition as seen last December 2016

During the first 2.5 days in Charlotte, Kristine & I went to Charlotte Country Day School to have lunch with my niece, Harper, who is in kindergarten. My sister and I both attended CCDS and was so fun going back especially to see Harper. Gosh, last time I stepped foot on campus was when I gave the Cum Laude Induction Ceremony speech in February 2013.

Leaving Eagle for Charlotte

Sawyer & Harper at Brixx Pizza on a Sunday night

Lunch with Harper at CCDS

It was so fun being with Harper at school

Love this little lady

Sawyer was so excited to be with the big kids that she lined up with the kindergarten class

We then drove to Chalk Hill later that day. I always feel right at home at Chalk Hill with dad and everyone.

In the new living room

On the front porch swing

Cuzins

Sawyer and the coyote

Me & Sawyer

Me and my gals

Me, Sawyer, Wesley, & Harper

Cuzins lounging on the back porch hammock

If only we could get those pacifiers out of their mouths

Sawyer & Wesley

Sawyer & Aunt Evon

Kristine and the little cuzins

My mom organized a 2 person bluegrass band to come over for 2 hours one evening and it was so fun especially for all the little gals.

We’ve never really had a personal show where we are the entire audience before this evening

Harper got to try out the banjo

My oldest niece

Kristine & I went on a few trail runs up my old favorite Bullhead Mountain, the highest mountain in Alleghany County (3,862′).

On top of Bullhead

Kristine running the road on Bullhead

Some of our best friends, Cashion & Eva, came up from Brevard for an evening to visit. It was absolutely wonderful to have them and everyone loved seeing them. Turns out Cashion & Eva have since moved to Carbondale, CO where Eva’s family is located. Again, it will be awesome to have them back in state and so close to us.

My dad, Maya, Cashion and their tenement on wheels, which always looks nice parked in the driveway 🙂

Wesley & Sawyer in the sprinter van

The crew with Cashion & Eva

Kristine & Maya

So awesome to have them up at Chalk Hill. Cashion originally helped dad and I clear hiking trails and camp on the land in the early 90s before the cabin was ever built

My dad and brother-in law, Ransome, organized another fun hayride as well all throughout our property. Everyone had a blast.

All aboard the trailer

Ransome was the captain driving the tractor, but Sawyer always seemed to find herself into the pics

Aunt Evon & Harper

The loving Foose dog, Finley

Sawyer loved seeing the cows, aka “moo-moos”

Moo-moos

Sawyer & Gigi

So fun having a picnic in the pasture with Bullhead Mountain in the background

Horsing around

Cap’n Ransome, Wesley, & Sawyer

After the morning hayride, Kristine and I put Sawyer down for her nap and zipped down the mountain plateau to Stone Mountain State Park to do some rock climbing. Dad and I had hiked this beautiful granite slab of a mountain maybe 25 years ago, but I had never been back. Little did I know it has some of the best rock climbing in North Carolina. So, Kristine & I had brought our harnesses, shoes, rope, gear from Colorado hoping to get out for an afternoon on Stone Mountain. While Stone Mountain is notorious for its extremely run-out friction climbing on slightly less than vertical slabs, the most iconic route is The Great Arch right up the middle of the south face. I’ve heard its one of the best 5.5 routes in the county, which is funny considering we are talking 5.5. Nevertheless, we climbed a long 150′ 5.8 pitch called Block Route to get to Tree Ledge where we began the 3 pitch Great Arch climb to the top. It was a gorgeous afternoon and really warm. We got behind a party of 4 at Tree Ledge and waited for an hour until we could get going after them. We ended up passing them on pitch 2 as the sun was setting. Then, the party of 4 decided to bail off the route rather than continue to the top and their last climber, a gal named Lila, really just wanted to go to the top. We offered to just put her on our rope for the 3rd pitch and hike down with us, so she did and was very appreciative. We got to the top right at dusk around 5:30pm and hiked down in the dark for 30 minutes to the car to cap off a really fun afternoon together. I will always bring our rock gear from now on every time we go to Chalk Hill. Stone Mountain is so close and has great climbing.

Kristine approaching Stone Mountain’s south face. The Great Arch is the obvious dihedral up the center of the face

Block Route pitch (5.8) to get to Tree Ledge

Block Route pitch from above

Kristine balancing on the crux move of Block Route

The Great Arch from Tree Ledge

Kristine climbing pitch 1 of The Great Arch

Beautiful…climbing in the southeast on granite is pretty good

Kristine climbing pitch 2 of The Great Arch

Kristine taking in the beautiful sunset from the pitch 2 belay

It was a hundred or so vertical feet of easy slab scrambling after pitch 3 to the summit

Our good friend Chase Lochmiller, whom we met in Antarctica on our Mt. Vinson trip almost three years ago, was getting married on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in late September 2016. Having never been to any Hawaiian island, Kristine & I decided to make this happen with Sawyer and immediately Ken & Dianne Oelberger were on board to come with us. And, from everyone we talked to, Kauai was the least developed, most mountainous, and exotic of all the islands, which sounded right up our alley. Also, our friends from London, Harry & Halla Koppel, whom we met on Mt. Vinson as well, were making the long trip over and so it would be a great opportunity to rekindle our fun friendship we had in Antarctica together. We were so excited to spend this vacation with Sawyer,Ken, and Dianne. Definitely a different kind of vacation for us, but it turned out to be so much fun and memorable. Kauai certainly did not disappoint. We rented a functional beach house in Wainiha on Kauai’s north shore between Hanalei Bay and the Kalalau trailhead. It was a perfect location and was a 5 minute walk to the famous Tunnels Beach, where we went about every day for swimming with Sawyer and snorkeling.

Sawyer en route to Hawaii!

We flew from Denver to LAX and met Ken & Dianne there for the big flight direct to Lihue Airport on Kauai. We rented a van when we arrived and drove the hour+ up to the north shore and our beach house. It was an extremely long day with Sawyer, but we finally made it to the house around 4pm in the hottest part of the day. I think it was because we were all so beat from the travel and very tired and likely because the house had been closed up until an hour or so before we arrived, but we all sort of lost it when we arrived into the house due to the extreme temperature inside the house. I know I for one was thinking how the heck I could stay here, especially sleep at night in this hot of a house with no AC. It was unbearable. Ken and I immediately took off our shirts as did Sawyer to try and cool down. The property manager, however, did show us the portable AC units in a closet we could try and hook up to the windows at least to cool 2 rooms down. So, Ken and I jimmy-rigged one of the units in Sawyer’s room and it worked pretty well really cooling down her room to 70 degrees or colder. We did a less-inspiring engineering installation in the master bedroom where Kristine and I stayed, but it worked pretty well. It did cool down at night and was much more manageable. Ken and Dianne were stronger than us (me) and did well in the 3rd bedroom without an AC unit. Still, though, shirts off for the boys and Sawyer were still a staple for the week. Despite the initial shock of the heat & humidity, we adjusted and had a fantastic week.

Our house’s back porch

The backyard

Sawyer & I adjusting to life in Hawaii

Sawyer on the way to Tunnels Beach with the front of our house behind

Walking to Tunnels

Awesome Tunnels Beach has a reef and is just perfect for swimming and snorkeling in calm waters

Sawyer loved it

Ken & Dianne so happy to be back on Kauai after 25 years or so

Sawyer & I at Tunnels

It was so much fun & special being with Sawyer here

Kristine & Sawyer at Tunnels

Rinsing off back at the house

Despite not having full AC in the beach house, this place really had about everything else. Toys for Sawyer, beach chairs, snorkel gear, etc, a downstairs outdoor shower, a master bedroom outdoor tub and shower, great views into the jungle, very private, and a great location. We soon learned from Chase that most of these beach houses do not have AC, anyway. One of the first afternoons during Sawyer’s nap, Kristine and I drove a few miles east to Lumahai Beach to check out some bouldering I had researched on the beach. It turned out to be really fun bouldering on volcanic rock with the soft sandy beach as a crash pad. Kristine doesn’t boulder very much, but I was extremely happy she went with me. We had brought our rock shoes and chalk bags with us.

Very scenic bouldering

Though after a bit, the volcanic rock really takes a toll on your hands

Me on a line called Problem D

Kristine on a line called Problem G

Lumahai Beach (north) bouldering wall. Routes can be found on mountainproject

A good afternoon together

That evening we took a drive to the Kilauea Lighthouse, but it was closed. That’s ok because we had a ball chasing roosters and getting some nice pictures in the evening light.

Sawyer chasing a rooster

Good family pic with the Kilauea Lighthouse behind

Cool shades, Sawyer

The sun going down on the drive back

The next day we all decided to give the famous Kalalua Trail a try (at least the first mile or so) to get some views of the amazing Napali Coast. We actually made it just over a mile in depite how rocky and muddy and wet it was and Sawyer walked a decent portion of it. She was beat about halfway back and in the pack she went and fell asleep. However, it was gorgeous scenery.

Welcome

Sawyer & K hiking the Kalalau Trail

Dianne’s face says it all

Ken & Dianne and the Napali Coast

Kalalau Beach is the termination of the Kalalau Trail about 10 miles further down the Napali Coast

That evening we went over to Chase’s wedding party/friends house they rented in Hanalei Bay. Apparently, it was owned by the real life family depicted in the movie Descendants starring George Clooney. Also, the house in which the move was filmed on the beach was immediately across the street, which I definitely recognized. We had a great time catching up with Chase, meeting his fiance Devon, who grew up on Kauai, and checking out the home.

Sawyer walking around the home

The amazing home

The Kalalau Trail (Napali Coast)

The next morning we all woke up around 6am and K and I got ready for our big adventure of the week: trail run/hike the Kalalau Trail to Kalalau Beach and back in a day, which turns out to be about 5,000′ vertical gain and 23 miles RT. Ken & Dianne were so nice to hang with Sawyer for the day and I think they had a really fun time together at Tunnels Beach. Ken dropped K and I off at the Kalalau trailhead around 7am (only 2 miles west of our house) and it seemed like we beat the majority of folks that morning to get on the trail. Armed with a water bottle, Gatorade bottle, a backpack water bladder, and trail bars/snacks in our pockets, we went light and fast. We brought iodine tablets to purify the stream water as we had to refill several times throughout the day.

The Kalalau Trail map along the Napali Coast. Click to enlarge

We tried to slowly run the first 4-5 miles of the trail, but much of it is so rough, rocky, muddy, and wet it was pretty dangerous to do so, especially on the down. Good thing is there were no people on the trail to try and get around. I had never sweated as much as I did on the Kalalau Trail with all of the humidity. I looked like I had already swam in the ocean. Anyway, the morning hours were relatively cool and in the shade as the sun had not come overhead yet.

Early morning mud

Kristine

Beautiful

Near the beginning of the trail

Crossing Hanakapi’ai Stream

2 miles and 30 minutes in we came upon Hanakapi’ai Beach

And leaving Hanakapi’ai Beach

One thing about this trail is it is A LOT of up and down. As soon as you get comfortable going up or down, the trail switches and you do the other mode. Miles 2-4 were some slow miles because of the overgrowth onto the trail and slick mud and rock. We came upon a lean-to shelter at mile 4 and I left my shirt hanging there as it was completely soaked with sweat. We chatted with a grizzled man at the lean-to laying on the bench from Oahu who had hiked this trail countless times in his 30 years of coming to Kauai.

Typical mountainous terrain along the Napali Coast

Kristine and a view. Kalalau Beach is still a good 5-6 miles out

A boat en route back from Kalalau Beach

We reached Hanakoa Valley at mile 6 (halfway point) and after that the trail really opened up, became much more runnable, and the views opened up as well. It was great.

Hanakoa Valley

Me and the mountains

Cruising along and still all smiles

Kristine

I think around mile 7 was the fun and interesting portion of the trail that was pretty exposed down to the raging surf several hundred feet below.

One of the more exposed portions of the trail

Kristine chugging along

A panorama of a neat section of trail

The trail opening up after mile 8

Getting close. Kalalau Beach can be seen right of center in the distance

I see you, Kalalau Beach!

Another one

Nice meadows close to Kalalau Beach

The home stretch

So, after about 4 hours on the trail, we reached Kalalau Beach. It was such a treat to be there. Many campers were camped in the trees just south of the beach and were beginning to come out to the beach. It reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio and the island dwellers all going to the secret, remote beach in the older move The Beach. In fact, many folks were in the nude heading into the surf. We decided to not join the ranks of the nude.

Kristine and Kalalau Beach

Panorama of Kalalau Beach

Happy to be here together. Someday, we’ll have to come back with Sawyer and camp a night

We ate one of our denser, larger snack bars we previously bought and rested for 20 minutes or so. We also gathered a few special coral pieces and rocks from the beach to remember it by. We said our goodbyes and began the slower return run/hike back the way we came.

The long, but beautiful way home

Coming back along the fun, exposed portion of the trail

A quick little video of Kristine on the exposed portion of the trail:

On the return trip, we decided to take a detour and go check out Hanakoa Falls, which said only a half mile off the Kalalau Trail. However, it was a rough and slow trail consisting of some bushwhacking and we began to think if we’d ever see this waterfall. Finally, we reached the falls and I guess it was worth the detour.

Hanakoa Falls

The last few miles were slow and we were hiking by then. Lots of folks on the trail once we got back to mile 2, but fortunately the trail had dried out quite a bit so it was much less slick. We were back at the trail by about 4pm with tired legs and feet, but feeling good about our adventure. We walked the road back to our house trying to thumb and hitch a ride. We were finally picked up by some nice folks we met along the trail and drove us in the back of their pickup the rest of the way back arriving around 4:30pm just in time to see Sawyer waking up from her nap. I immediately went out to get us some much needed ginger beers and guava drinks from the Wainiha General Store as we (me) were craving these the last few miles.

The Remainder of the Week and Chase’s Wedding

We all did some more swimming and snorkeling on that Thursday and Kristine & I made it to Chase & Devon’s welcome part at the St. Regis in Princeville that evening.

Sunset over Hanalei Bay from the St. Regis

At the St. Regis

The next morning we all went to Lumahai Beach for some exploring and swimming.

Lumahai Beach

Sawyer scoping out the rocks and pools

Waves against the rocks

It was a good swimming hole

The gals loved it

Happy girls

Not often do you get to stand at the end of the rainbow 🙂

Harry & Halla had arrived late Friday night and came over Saturday morning to visit. We all went to Tunnels Beach and swam and snorkeled. It was so great to see them again. Its almost like we all had never skipped a beat! We definitely need to get together with them and their year old daughter soon on another vacation.

All of us at Tunnels Beach

That evening we got ready for Chase & Devon’s wedding and drove ourselves to the Na Aina Kai Botanical Gardens for the wedding and reception. It was a great celebratory evening and was super fun to hang with Harry & Halla all night.

All dressed up as much as we ever do

Another

The ceremony

Chase & Devon

The reception

The four of us on the beach at the reception

We did one more quick Tunnels Beach trip early morning to say our goodbyes. Sawyer was a tired gal after a big week.

At Tunnels

One more of the three of us

After watching some early Sunday morning NFL games and a good Sawyer nap in my arms, we all loaded up the van and made our way to Lihue Airport. Little did we know that we were all in for a 2 day adventure to get back to Colorado. In a nutshell, due to limiting weight on the airplane because of turbulence, American decided to bump 20 folks off the plane. Kristine & I being two of them because we didn’t check-in the night before or early that morning. Ken & Dianne, however, did check-in the night before. So, after 6 hours at the airport that afternoon and a lot of tears and frustration, we were put up in the Marriott with food vouchers, we each got a $1,000 voucher on American, including Sawyer, and left the next day. We got home an entire day later on Tuesday evening. Ken & Dianne could have gone on without us and gotten home Monday evening, but we appreciated them so much hanging with us. Nevertheless, it was an adventure with a 2 year old, but really Sawyer did so very well. It was fun in retrospect to go through that adventure with her.

Sawyer loving her bus ride at LAX

And, finally, we landed at DIA

In conclusion, what a phenomenal family trip to a wonderful island. We would highly recommend this kind of trip and the island of Kauai to anyone looking to get away from the more developed islands. It was beyond special to share this trip with Ken & Dianne and especially to be able to bring Sawyer along and have so much fun with her.

After two unsuccessful camping attempts with a much younger Sawyer in 2015, we were finally successful this past Memorial Day Weekend and let’s just say Sawyer passed with flying colors! As parents, Kristine & I were very pleased. And, we did it in one of our favorite car camping/climbing areas: Escalante Canyon, Colorado. One of these unsuccessful camping attempts was in fact in Escalante Canyon over a year ago. Sawyer’s sleep was disrupted by a heard of cattle “mooing” a few feet from our tent at 10:30pm, which forced us to abandon the trip and drive back to Edwards arriving home around 2am. Live & learn, I guess 🙂 We packed up last Saturday morning and made the 3 hour drive to Escalante in our new 2008 4-door Chevy Tahoe, which we recently bought from my parents. Its nice for a change to have a reliable truck that can fit all of us comfortably plus not having to worry if the headlights will go out 🙂 Our friends Keith & Sarah with their daughter Melodie (a month younger than Sawyer) and dog Molly were already down there as were friends Lauren & Steve (with their dog Scout) and our good buddy Mikey. After walking around with Sawyer in the backpack trying to get her to nap while Kristine and Keith set up our mega tent and pack-n-play, we returned having had no nap because of Sawyer’s new surroundings, sights, & sounds. Around 4pm, Lauren, Steve, Mikey, Rainier, Kona, Scout, & myself all went to the Interiors Wall and climbed 5 or so routes I was pretty familiar with including the “cave” routes called Interiors (5.9-) and The Shaft (5.10a). Keith came up to check out the cave as well. Arriving back at camp around 7pm, we all hung out around the campfire, ate dinner, and had a nice evening.

Me & Sawyer back at camp

The Chalks

Sawyer

She looks like a camping county gal in her jeans and dinosaur sweatshirt

Our tent in an amazing setting

Sawyer & Mikey

Kristine & Sawyer

Sawyer stayed up late! I don’t think she went to bed until around 9:30pm. Definitely the latest she has gone to bed. She didn’t even wake up when Kristine, the dogs, and I came into the tent around 11-11:30pm. Gosh, she slept well. Must be that cool and crisp desert air. I slept well, too. I always tend to sleep better in the desert than just about anywhere. We woke up around 8am and Sawyer didn’t stir until 8:30am. Kristine & I looked at each other and we both noticed that “ecstatic” expression in each other’s faces. Maybe we need to do more camping!

Gorgeous Escalante Canyon from our campsite

Morning, Sawyer! She has much nicer Patagonia long underwear than I do!

Sawyer & Melodie

The little gals and Rainier

We hung around and had breakfast and took the dogs down to Escalante Creek to swim while Kristine drove out to Highway 50 to get cell service and work on getting her condo under contract. When she got back, I had packed up the Tahoe and we were ready to roll whenever we were to be done climbing. Kristine was so wonderful to hang with Sawyer and the dogs by the creek while I took Lauren, Steve, Scout, & Mikey up to quite possibly my most favorite crack I’ve ever climbed: Willy’s Hand Jive (5.10+). Maybe that doesn’t say a whole lot, but I sure do love it. Keith came up with us as well to check out our crack addiction 🙂

Me on Willy’s

Jam, jam, and jam

Placing gear before the crux pod

Negotiating the pod

And….success!

Mikey did a lap on Willy’s and then we went over to setup an adjacent route called Rusty’s Cave (5.9+). Lauren & Steve took a good stab at Willy’s and hopefully learned a few trick of the trade with regard to this thing called “crack climbing”. Its definitely very technique-driven and takes awhile to hone in on the various maneuvers that work or don’t work. We left the rope up on Rusty’s cave for Lauren & Steve as I needed to head out because Sawyer’s nap time was fast approaching. Mikey and I rolled back to the car by 2pm and we joined up with Kristine, Sawyer, & the dogs at the small picnic table in the shade. We met two nice women as well at the picnic table. One had a 14 week old son in the baby bjorn. We chatted for awhile as they were both originally from Austria. The woman with the baby lived in Ridgway and her friend was visiting from Austria to keep her company while her husband was guiding in Alaska. Turns out the woman with the baby’s name was Ava House, wife of Steve House, one of the most accomplished, respected, and skilled alpinists out there. Pretty cool. I had forgotten Steve House lived in Ridgway. Sawyer promptly passed out as soon as we started the 11 mile drive on the dirt road to Highway 50. She was exhausted, but a good exhausted. We arrived back in Edwards around 5pm very happy with how things went for Sawyer’s 1st successful camping trip.